internship...

i guess i did the stupidest thing ever. but i have no regrets. i quit my internship.
2 weeks was more than enough for me to realise that it wasn't something that i ever wanted to do.
i dont care even if people think im a quitter. cos, i was the one experiencing it not them.
and boy, they have no idea of what was going on...

k, lemme give u a job description
by them, vs by  me
you be the judge..

according to them, we (my friends n i)* were told that we would be dealing with people and we would be doing internet based research for this event management company, plus minus some data entry stuff. (we thought this was fine)

but what we ended up doing was that calling up companies to obtain direct emails or faxes of the CEOs/Directors/MD/HR Dept Heads to send them invites to the current event that was being organised by the company that hired us. and afterwhich, we would be printing/faxing/emailing them the invites, and the following up on those invites by calling those companies again to check if they have received the invites. and then further follow up if they havent received the faxes/emails by resending those invites via emails. and then follow up on those received invites to check if their CEOs/Directors/MD/HR Dept Heads are aware of the invites. and asking those secretaries to make sure they get informed as well trying to find out the interest levels of those CEOs/Directors/MD/HR Dept Heads. This is what we were doing apart from the additional data entry...

like seriously???
dont you think this would be counted as OCD level stalking much??

and on top of that, it wasnt just calls to local companies...it was to overseas as well. which fine at times. but it was hell if you got the wrong person. the amount of bad moods and vibes thanks to this was pretty much taking a toll on us. and plus, added with a bitchy colleague...anyone would have quit within 3 days. the only reason why we stayed long enough was because we all had each other. and after that it was the last straw after the boss himself decided to have meeting with us (a.k.a giving us warning to buck up our standards)
but if you think about it, who would wanna perform wholeheartedly if you dont like what you do? which is why we decided to leave. we'd rather do a job that we love, and wholeheartedly than a shoddy job at a place that we dont even want to remain anymore.
it felt like a friggin cage...being cooped up for long hours, and all the damned silences, and the annoying cold of the AC....etc etc

and then there were other deal breakers...

can u imagine this...spending up to $15** per day just on transport for work, and to top it off, we had food expenses as well...all in all...our expenditure wud total up to nearly $30 per day...
and we had to go to work 5 days a week. can u imagine...$150 per week...just to go to work...
and the total cost of that for 7 weeks comes to about $1k...
and for that 7 weeks that we were going to do our internship there, they were only to going to pay us about $400...
for us, that amount became nothing when we chalked up the costs..

so when i thought about it, i realized that the whole thing would become worthless and a painful reminder of how much money i have wasted on something that i totally have no interest. it would have been different if the work was something that inspired me or at the very least, it was something that i enjoyed...

and then there was the time factor. the job hours were 9am-6pm..
we 3 had to rely on public transport to reach the workplace, which meant that we had to get up early to go to work due to lack of transport. to get there it takes us abt 1hour. which means we need to leave before 8am. and then us being gals, we have to appear presentable and formal. that means another 1hour...and plus in case of any wardrobe/make up malfunction.
so we have to get up atleast by 6.30am...

and then work finishes at 6pm...but at most times we cant leave at sharp 6pm, it more often than not close to 6.15pm or 6.30pm...and by the time we reach home its nearly 8pm...that is if we dont go out to eat...and if we do...we reach home only around 10.30pm.

the irony is, we need to get to bed by 11pm if we need enough rest for work the next day..
this means that we only have a time gap of 30mins to 3hours for ourselves...depending on our day...

so what the eff is this?? this kind of work is not worth it...especially for me...
i think i had a better time working in a bookstore than working at this corporate company...

despite all this...there were two added bonuses that we realized while doing our internship..

1. we had discovered a chinese restaurant there nearby the company we had worked in. and that was the place where we could be ourselves and not be judged. and that the restaurant owner took a liking to us and began to bond with us. so every bfast and lunch hours were spent there...and only there because it helped us prepare ourselves for the impending work and to regain abit of ourselves after working there till lunch time. and this was where we found that kindness and affection has no boundaries...when we informed the owner that we leaving that day...and that we'll come back for lunch...she wished us luck...and after that when we came for lunch and were about to bid our final adieu...she didnt let us pay for that meal that day. and she insisted it. she wished us all the very best and told us to visit her when we had time...i was just so touched by her affection for us...and we had only known her for 2 weeks...

2. we realised that we will never want to work in a corporate company like that anymore.

adioz
~shakti~



*=a couple of my friends doing the same course as me ended up getting internship at the same company
**=currency denoted is just for sample...it is not actual one as used in the location of the author...